The present invention relates to information processors which retrieve appropriate information in reply to an operator's request and provides the operator with the information.
Lately, as businesses become more information oriented, personal computers have become vital tools. It is commonplace to see one computer per employee. Also, within the companies, the various information contained in each individual's personal computer is compiled and then used jointly. Thus, the use of a LAN (Local Area Network) as the computer network is also becoming rapidly more and more widespread as a means to improve work efficiency.
Furthermore, along with the spread of computer networks, communication between employees via the E-mail has greatly increased through LAN. In comparison to the company's LAN, in-home personal computers equipped with communication function or portable information terminals (hereinafter referred to as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) carried by the owner are usable to access the company's LAN through the public circuit network enabling them to send and receive E-mails.
In addition, information service networks are also rapidly gaining popularity in which one can use a computer's communication network such as an Internet to access an information service center via a personal computer and a PDA to obtain desired information or reserve tickets, etc.
As the structure of computer communication networks or information service networks composed of a LAN become diversified and increasingly hierarchical, the steps which the user (or owner) must take to access the desired information tends to become increasingly complex. This, however, has become an obstacle to the novice user at computer operation, as opposed to the seasoned user when the novice user uses the network.
Therefore, as it is the novice users who possess or use much of the computers and PDAs, development of access software to allow them to access desired information easily via the network has increased. In order to further upgrade this access software, access software with an agent function have recently been developed and put to the practice.
When this agent function equipped software is introduced into the personal computer and PDA to access the network, it will also be introduced into the server's side of the network which provides the needed information. In response to a simple command by the user, the terminal agent automatically accesses the server within the computer network cooperate with the server's agent to start transaction to reduce the user's burden, for example, by collecting information according to the user's job or interests and by acting on the user's behalf handle incoming transactions, in accessing the network and to act on the user's behalf to automatically retrieve and exchange necessary data. However, as stated below, to make the agent usage workable, this function is still insufficient.
Namely, the above-mentioned automatic data retrieval and exchange proxy function is to access the network, retrieve and collect needed information based on the previously entered user's information such as work content (job plan, etc.), and communicants addresses and other previously established retrieval condition items. If the retrieval condition items inputted are incomplete, the data retrieving process would stop, the result would be obscure and may not even be what the user requested. Therefore, merely retrieving data based on previously established information would decrease the changes of offering the user beneficial information, and thus the agent function's usefulness would decline.